This invention relates generally to fastening devices and assemblies, and more specifically relates to an assembly of this type which is useful in deterring theft or unauthorized removal of affixed electronic equipment or the like.
In recent years enormous interest has developed in various electronic accessories, which are installable at a vehicle or other location by a purchaser of such equipment. Reference is made here particularly to the explosive interest which has developed in the field of CB communications equipment. Devices of this type, as well as other electronic accessories, such as tape players or so forth, are commonly purchased by the user subsequent to purchase of the automobile or other vehicle in which such equipment is to be installed. In a typical procedure, for example, a bracket, such as a mounting yoke or the like, is secured by relatively permanent means within the vehicle as, for example, by mounting same under a dashboard. The electronic equipment per se, such as the CB transceiver, is then secured to the bracket or the like, by means of relatively conventional easily installable and removable fasteners.
In a typical prior art arrangement, for example, the said transceiver is emplaced within a yoke-like bracket by means of threaded fasteners which pass through openings in the yoke and are threadingly received into openings at the sides of the CB unit. These fasteners are often provided with enlarged heads, which can be manipulated manually or by a tool; i. e. the fasteners function in the manner of wing bolts.
As is now all too familiar, however, to users of equipment of the aforementioned type, as well as to law enforcement officials, the theft rate with respect to such equipment has reached epidemic proportions. Consideration of the theft pattern indicates that a major reason for same is the relative ease with which the equipment may be detached from the vehicle. In most instances investigation reveals that the thief simply acquires the equipment by removing the aforementioned fastening means, which is unfortunately a very simple and fast operation.
The problem outlined in the foregoing paragraph is not, of course, unique to the electronic equipment field. In numerous other environments, equipment including office machines such as typewriters or the like, are stolen with ease--in part because of absence of fastening devices tending to deter such theft. While numerous devices have been described over the years, which in one manner or another effect fastening so as to discourage removal of the fasteners (and thus of the equipment), by and large these devices have not been particularly effective; and none are deemed especially suitable for use in the environment especially considered by the present invention.
In accordance with the foregoing, it may be regarded as an object of the present invention, to provide a fastener assembly which is especially adapted for securing electronic equipment or the like to a vehicle-attached mounting bracket, which assembly is readily installed and removed by an authorized individual, but which can be removed only with great difficulty by thieves or other unauthorized personnel.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device of the aforementioned character, which includes features enabling the user to encode or set the stud assembly and the tool member used therewith, so as to key these elements to one another, thereby preventing use of similar tool members with the stud assembly if not specifically keyed thereto.